On Wednesday night in Oakland, New Orleans went against a team working through injuries and questions about whether it was coasting toward a more favorable lottery pick.

Thursday night in The Rose Garden, the Hornets saw a Trail Blazers’ team that in the past two weeks fired its beloved coach Nate McMillan, named a 33-year-old interim replacement, and on Thursday afternoon faced news that it’s billionaire owner, Paul Allen, may be looking to sell the team.

The 48-minute sanctuary on the court provided the Blazers with a 99-93 victory, but not without its scary moments against the thin Hornets.

New Orleans played with just eight available players when it was determined less than 30 minutes before tip off that starting point guard Jarrett Jack would miss with a sprained right ankle.

The Blazers used a 14-0 run in the final four minutes of the third quarter, and the first two of the fourth, then withstood a 9-0 New Orleans push in the fourth to get the victory.

Marco Belinelli had 27 points for the Hornets and Carl Landry added 24. Four of the five New Orleans starters scored in double figures.

All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge led Portland with 25.

The Blazers, under interim coach Kaleb Canales, whose road to the first chair on the Blazers’ bench began in 2004 when he was hired as an unpaid intern in the team’s video department, are still in playoff contention, a fact not lost on Hornets Coach Monty Williams, a one-time assistant with the Blazers who was on the same staff as Kanales under McMillan.

Allen, meanwhile, who also owns the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, took to his Twitter account Thursday afternoon to refute an internet report that he was soliciting offers for the Blazers. “It is absolutely false that I have entertained offers for the @pdxtrailblazers,” Allen tweeted. “Unnamed sources are wrong as usual. Why don’t reporters check?”

Portland had beaten the Hornets three times already this season, all with McMillan in the lead spot, though Kanales has attempted to put his own stamp on the team, which had struggled to a 3-4 record under his guidance heading into Thursday night’s game.

“I’ve watched a few games,” Williams said. “Any time you have that much talent on a team, you don’t have to change a lot. At the same time, I’m pretty sure Kaleb has tweaked some things that he wants to do as a head coach, and I’m pretty sure the players have talked to him about some things that they want. Bottom line is they’re a talented team with a lot of depth and have a good chance to make the playoffs.”

And although Kanales inherited a team with a proven superstar, Aldridge, and viable playoff aspirations, Williams on Thursday had only eight healthy players. Jack (ankle), starting center Chris Kaman (illness), small forward Trevor Ariza (sore right ankle) and backup power forward Gustavo Ayon (not with team for birth of his first child) were all unavailable as they build for the future attempting to succeed in the present.

“I think you always respect your opponent and plan to win the game,” Williams said. “It’s the NBA. At the same time, we are building for the future. We are tweaking offenses, putting in drills we’re going to use more frequently next year, making sure we do the best job we can to help our organization.

“We want these guys to understand that every time we come to the gym, or have a meeting, it’s an effort to get better. So we try to do some things in games that mimic those situations. I might put a guy in a situation where normally if we had a full roster he might not be in that situation. It’s all in an effort to build for the future, yet we still try to win games.”

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Jimmy Smith can be reached at jsmith@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3814.